Chapter 107: book 3 chapter 9

The four women stood around the map in the captains’ quarters, the navigator nervously explaining their original course, though the constant questions from the white creature slowed the process considerably much to the man's dismay. Wolf did not know why he had been brought along but the iron grip of the white creature left little room for protest, she seemed convinced that he was, as she put it, “someone important” on the ship.

“Again,” the elven woman sighed heavily, her ears drooping, “We do not have enough supplies to make it all the way back to Sandstone, Hecatolite.”

“We barely have enough food to make it to Felnnor,” Himari added, Wolf had only remembered her name because of her constantly correcting the white creature; though at this point he kind of wished he didn’t. After hearing such a unique name… it couldn’t be. Why in the holy court would the saintess of Valor be all the way out here? He ignored the thought as she continued. “Not to mention the extra supplies your sister and you will consume…”

“You calling me fat?” The creature hissed as its long tail slapped against the floor causing Wolf to jump. The navigator nearly fainted at the sound, the man only a few years older than Wolf was white as a ghost as he toppled back.

Himari sighed, “No, but a little self-restraint goes a long way. Given your bodies, the two of you should require less food, yet you managed to devour an alarming amount of the local fauna on that island.”

“Well, excuse me for enjoying fine cuisine.”

“Fine cuisine… the… poisonous fruit.” Himari placed her head in her hands as she trailed off.

“Regardless of your diet,” the elven woman cut the two off. “Our options are turn around, sail back to Algamir or continue to Felnnor.”

“I vote Algamir, the faster we get to dry land the faster we can get home.” The creature crossed its arms as it nodded.

Its sister shook her head, “I think it would be safer to go through Felnnor, once we hit land we can hook south through Gala and Ocelina…”

“That would probably be a bad idea.” Wolf spoke without thinking, causing the four of them to turn to him, his eyes briefly locking with the white creatures causing a shiver to run down his spine. He quickly averted his eyes as a cold sweat formed on his brow.

“Why's that dog man?” the creature asked, jabbing a tiny finger into his side. “Well…”

“Hecatolite,” its sister chastised as she appeared beside Wolf, grabbing the creature's arm. “It's rude to poke people. Now, Mr. Wolf, whenever you're ready.” She smiled as she pulled her sister back.

“It’s…. umm… just… just Wolf, is fine.” He stammered, caught off guard by the warm nature of the black mage. The fact she uses high powered teleportation magic went against everything he knew about magic. Is it some kind of twisted show of power? burning off that much mana on a whim? for what though? they already captured the ship… No it doesn't make sense, and it doesn't seem to bother her at all… He thought as he watched her pull her sister across the room with ease. Wolf had met a few high-powered mages before, always arrogant rude nobles of Algamir, yet this girl seemed… kind. Whenever he looked at her he felt… safe, unlike her sister who only filled him with fear. The All-faith saint… Amethyst was her name, wasn’t it? 

“Hey, stop making googly eyes at my sister.” Hecatolite hissed trying to slap his leg with her tail only to be stopped when Amethyst pulled her back. 

He cleared his throat, forcing the swirling emotions about the two… women, down as he spoke. “I am guessing your final destination is Crown, given what you said; if that’s the case you may want to avoid Gala, once the Empire of Crown entered the war, they declared war on the Empire. I don’t know how that’s going for them, but I doubt you will get a warm welcome given your… present company.” 

“Present company?” Hecatolite asked looking around the room, “They have a problem with beautiful women?”

“I think he means Eryl.” Himari interjected pointing to the elven woman.

“Beautiful elven women? I mean sure she could be a bit intimidating but look at her, who wouldn’t want her strutting through their towns.” Even Wolf sighed at Hecatolite’s… ignorance?

No, I don’t think that’s the word. He looked to the elven woman, though her face did not move he noticed her ears swaying ever so slightly.

“I doubt it has anything to do with my looks,” Eryl answered, her monotone voice causing him to pause. Whenever the elven woman spoke, he felt inclined to listen, he couldn’t explain why but something about her was… calming. “If they have openly opposed the Empire it is safe to assume they have allied with Algamir, meaning it is likely they will be less than hospitable to other races. I would like to also point out that you, Hecatolite, would also likely cause an uproar in a land that follows the Algamir doctrine.”

“On top of the fact, you and Amethyst are nobles of a hostile nation. Please try to remember that the Lapidary family is fairly well known.” Himari added, though it seemed to have the opposite effect as both the girls seemed to puff out their chests.

“Well of course, we're pretty awesome.” Hecatolite boasted from her position in her sister’s arms.

“Our family did work hard,” Amethyst nodded, a slight smile on her face. “I am glad that people respect them even outside of Crown.”

“Wait, you're actually nobles…” Wolf again nearly kicked himself as he spoke out loud, but if it's true these two strange girls were actual nobles then… “It’s not just… you know a lie? To get the captain to let you stow away on the ship?”

“Why would we lie about our name?” Hecatolite asked, glaring at him. “We aren’t named after a flea bag like you.”

“Hecatolite,” Amethyst said calmly, tapping her sister on the head, “Yes, we are the daughters of Marquis Alastair Lapidary and Marquise Taaffeite Lapidary from the Empire of Crown.” Wolf could see the pride swelling in the young woman as she spoke, standing up a little straighter as she announced her parents’ titles. Despite being lifted from the ground even Hecatolite seemed to straighten slightly as she nodded along with her sister's words, her long tail flicking happily. Her unnatural toothy smile sent shivers down Wolf's spine.

“That means you…. You’re really… the saint of Va…” he froze as a chill filled the room. Something screaming in the back of his mind to not finish his sentence.

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He slowly looked around, his eyes landing on Hecatolite whose unnatural smile seemed… strained as her sister held her firmly in place. 

“Please refrain from bringing up the past, Wolf.” Eryl’s calm voice cut through the tension like a knife. “Himari is now the Saint of the Singularity. Which gives us even more reason to avoid anywhere allied with Algamir.”

“I doubt the church will take kindly to my betrayal of faith.” Himari sighed, “Not that I wanted to be the saint in the first place.” She finished in barely a whisper. 

Eryl’s ears sagged again as she replied. “True, they would likely attempt to capture you before…”

“Fish eggs is my prisoner.” Hecatolite snapped, “The stupid goat church can come try and take her. I’ll eat them.” It was strange, though she called Himari a prisoner, there was a strange possessiveness in her words. Wolf did not know if she meant she would actually eat the church but he was sure she would fight anyone who came for Himari, the low growl that rumbled from the girl was proof enough of that. “This is all pointless, I thought we were plotting a course! Why we talking about the dumb war, and the stupid goat? What’s that got to do with where we are going! I say we go to Algamir and light it on fire!" Hecatolite hissed as her tail slapped against the map. “That’s what they get for being so annoying all the time!”

“Hecatolite,” Eryl snipped, her voice coming out sharp as she shot a glare at the white creature. “I understand you two are powerful, but I will not condone razing an entire nation simply because they are annoying.” She sighed, rubbing one of her temples as Hecatolite continued to emit a strange low growl like hum though she did not speak.

“We were planning on traveling through Ecrein anyway.” Amethyst finally spoke up, “So we land in Felnnor and just continue the way we were going to originally. Actually, if you think about it, we are way ahead of schedule, if we had walked, we would still be sharing a body.”

The low hum coming from Hecatolite stopped as she seemed to think. “That's right… that means we have time for some sightseeing! We got to get gifts for everyone! ooo you think the princess would like a private island? We did ruin her birthday, so it only seems right.”

Wolf could have sworn he heard Eryl chuckle, as she said. “Good, Geovan, please continue on our course to Felnnor. Wolf, I understand this ship did not have a quartermaster.” 

Wolf nodded, “No the captain was a pretty exclusive guy, he had a second in command but…” he paused thinking about the large man who had foolishly attempted to regain control of the ship. He only made it about one step before he was… how did Hecatolite put it… “sent to sleep with the fishes!”

“Well then, it seems we have a few open positions then. I am appointing you Quartermaster,” she dropped a pen and paper on the desk. “Please go around the ship and get me a list of everything we have on board. People, armaments, rations, supplies, and cargo.” 

“Wait, but what about me! I don’t have a job yet! I can make lists!” Hecatolite cried out as Wolf took the paper. Everyone looked stunned, it had been assumed she would simply take the second mate position… “Why are you all looking at me?” 

Eryl quickly thought of a job for Hecatolite. After all, something to occupy her time meant she would be less likely to cause trouble. hopefully. “Of course you can but I have an important job for you.” Even Wolf could hear the uncertainty in her monotone voice as she continued. “You are the watcher.”

“The watcher? Never heard of that position before… is that like the look out?”

“Yes, exactly, but your job is to watch everyone in the crew and be sure they are doing their jobs correctly and report directly to the captain if you find anything out of place.”

Hecatolite was quiet for a long time, almost long enough for them to think Hecatolite had seen through the fake job before proudly exclaiming. “Of course! You’re going to be busy with captaining, so you’ll need eyes and ears amongst the crew!” She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Wolf, “I’m watching you, weird green man.” 

“Green man?” Amethyst asked as she finally released her sister.

“Yea, his soul is green, like Calamari, but it's different. Looks sickly, like a dark goopy green.” Wolf’s stomach dropped as Hecatolite spoke.

“What has mom told you about looking at people’s souls?” Amethyst chastised her sister. 

“But it looks…” She stopped as Amethyst glared at her. 

“I'll tell mom.” Amethyst growled. 

“Fine!” Hecatolite grumbled before stomping out the door. “Let’s go plague doctor, we got lists to make. Well, you do.” She slammed the door… a yelp filling the air as she pulled her tail free from the now broken door.

Wolf looked back to the three left in the room only to be greeted by them all waving him out of the room. He wanted to protest but something that had been said suddenly slammed into his mind. she… she said raze the nation, didn’t she… could they actually… He glanced at Amethyst, Eryl did not seem like one for useless flair in her words. Did the elven woman believe these two girls alone could raze a nation? His thoughts were interrupted as Hecatolite called out to him.

“Less gawking, more list making!” her voice was punctuated by a loud crashing sound. “Oops… that hole was definitely always there.”

Eryl sighed, “Amethyst, can you please keep Hecatolite from sinking the ship.”

Amethyst giggled, saluting the elven woman, “Aye-aye captain. Well come on Wolf, let’s get to work.” Amethyst passed Wolf with a childlike smile.

Just what kind of monsters did I get wrapped up with? Part of him wished he could switch places with Geovan the navigator as he left. At least Eryl and Himari seemed… Reasonable.

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